Relationships: From beginning to end

Monday

Nov 4, 2013 at 12:20 AMNov 4, 2013 at 12:48 AM

I know itís hard to be the younger one, the one who watches from the doorway as older kids leave for friendsí houses. With sisters 12 and 14 years older than me, Iíve been there. Thatís why it struck such a chord with me when Benjamin said he wanted to go somewhere that I couldnít […]

I know itís hard to be the younger one, the one who watches from the doorway as older kids leave for friendsí houses. With sisters 12 and 14 years older than me, Iíve been there. Thatís why it struck such a chord with me when Benjamin said he wanted to go somewhere that I couldnít see him.

He wanted to leave the house without Mom and Dad. He wanted to be big, and at 4, his options were limited.

Then, it struck me: He could play on our enclosed front porch while I sat mere feet away in the living room. He could have the sense of playing just out of reach, and I could know he was safe because I could see him through the window.

He was beside himself when he heard the news. He raced around gathering up the supplies he would need to entertain himself. A write-on wipe-off board. A Bible. An imagination that somehow always finds its way back to Star Wars or Justice League heroes.

I could see him sipping from his mug, arranging things on the rustic coffee table and settling into the cushions on his favorite outdoor chair. He was proud of himself. You could tell it in the way he carried himself.

Within minutes he poked his head back inside the door.

ďIím reading chapter one,Ē he said, carrying his Bible. ďIt tells all about friendshipsÖ and relationships.Ē

I started to explain how chapter one is about creation, but I stopped myself just in time for the reality of what he had said to sink in.

From start to finish, it is about relationships. Even the story of creation tells us God created man in his own image and then made woman, so they would not be alone. Then, God walked with them in the garden and delighted in their company.

And after the fall? Well, God still wanted relationship Ė thatís what the rest of the book is about. The whole thing summarized.